Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, & Connectivism and Their Relation With Language Teaching Methods

7/24/2019 Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, & Connectivism and Their Relation With Language Teaching Methods.

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Running Head: Learning Theories and related methods.

Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, & Connectivism and their relation with

Language Teaching Methods.

A Paper Presented in Partial Fullfilment

Od the Requirements for the Master in TEFL

, PHD, Professor & Mentor


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Learning Theories and related methods. 2

Abstract

The following research paper is aimed to study the different Learning Theories that have

helped education evolve over the time and it relation with methods that are based on some of

these theories. In this paper is made an overview through the learning theories as they

appeared. For instance, the first learning method studied is the behaviorism and is related to a

method that best fits. Cognitivism is also a theory that was studied with the respective

method. Also, the constructivism was taken into consideration because its importance in

education. Finally, the connectivism, considered as one of the most important learning theory

because its applicability in this times where technology is reachable for the majority of

learners. The study of the learning theories and the relation with teaching methods will work

to see how efficient a theory and a method could be.

Key words: Cognitivism, behaviorism, constructivism, connectivism, method, theory,

learning, relation.


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Bibliographical Findings

Behaviorism

The humanity have been practicing behaviorism since ancient times without knowing

of the term, nowadays according to Skinner (1924) is considered a science that take into

consideration the complete field of human adjustment as its own. To well define this term is

also necessary to take into consideration other sciences as well. In this case we are taking into

account only the psychological field which is interested in knowing the functioning of parts of

the human being like the different systems that help our body function. Besides the function

of the parts, psychology is deeply interested in knowing the behavior of the human being, in

other words to monitor what the person does during the day, since the beginning until the end

of it. If we relate this to social sciences, behaviorism also helps to predict and also to control

human activity thanks to psychology.

In other words, behaviorism has it basis on the idea that behavior can be monitored

and controlled and even modified thanks to the antecedents and consequences of a behavior

becoming in this way a learning theory. Taking this into consideration, this learning theory

can only be possible with the right environment or as we called before the antecedent. So, the

behaviorism is possible to occur if we include the reinforcement or consequence with a

reward or punishment. In this case, we as teachers will be shaping classroom behavior

according to our needs.

One clear example of Behaviorism is when I started to work at a private school, in

those early ages I was just starting to get experience and learn about teaching. Of course when

I studied at the university I familiarized myself with the terms as in this case with

behaviorism. I used to work with children from about 5 to 8 years old and considering that

children are very active and lose attention very easily if the class get bored, I started to use


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some techniques that helped me to call the attention from my students and also help me to get

from my student more participation becoming this a strategy that produced good results. One

of the activities I used helped me to make students behave well in class. This activity

consisted in making a schedule of the week in which every day each student received a sticker

if they behaved well, on Friday, the last day of the week. The teacher counts the stickers in

front of the class and find that the students that had more stickers was the winner of the week

receiving a no homework card for Monday as a price. The reinforcement in this case became a

motivation for them behave well.

I think that all the people put into practice behaviorism empirically, I remember that

my mom also used to give a price when I did the things that she asked me to do or thanks to

my good behavior in any specific moment considering that I was a very active child in the

past.

Method related to Behaviorism

If we relate this learning theory a method, we found that the AUDIO-LINGUAL

METHOD fits in this learning theory. As we saw before the behaviorism learning theory is

based on behavior and specifically in antecedents and consequences or reinforcements.

According to Larsen-Freeman, (2008), this method is based in this four aspects: 1. Language

learning is a process of habit formation, 2. It is important for teachers to prevent students error

since errors ca lead to the formation of bad habits, 3. Students should overlearn the sentence

pattern of the target language, 4. Positive reinforcement helps students to develop correct

habits. So as we can see in the fourth point Larsen-Freeman included the reinforcement as an

important aspect to be considered when using this method. It was thought that the way to

acquire the sentence patterns of the target language was through conditioning- helping

learners to respond correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement. Learners could


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overcome the habits of their native language and form the new ha bits required to be target

language speakers Larsen-Freeman, (2008).

Cognitivism

Cognitivism is a newer learning theory if compare to the previous one. This learning

theory appeared in the fifties and started to separate to the use of the behaviorism models to

an approach that goes with the learning models of cognitivists sciences. According to

Siemens, (2005), in cognitive theories, knowledge is viewed as symbolic mental constructs in

the learners mind, and the learning process is the means by which these symbolic

representations are committed to memory. This learning theory is more complex than

behaviorism because includes more aspects to take into consideration when a mental process

is taking place in a student. In other words, cognitivism is a more complete learning theory

that gives importance to how the information is processed.

According to Ertmer & Newby (1993), in cognitivism it is necessary to know how the

information is gathered and received, how it is organized, then how is it stored, and finally

how the information is retrieved by the students mind. This learning theory has been used by

teacher for many years and even I can say that teachers still use it nowadays. For instance, in

teaching planning, teachers have to include some moments in which are explicitly detailed the

processes that students must develop to acquire knowledge. So it is clear that the planning

must be organized and also has to be related with the content of the previous class so it needs

to be sequenced. Another key point is that the content must be easy to understand and well-

presented and more importantly it needs to be meaningful for the students. Cognitive

theories emphasize making knowledge meaningful and helping learners organize and relate

new information to existing knowledge in memory. (Ertmer & Newby, 1993)


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As explained before, cognitivism is based in how students process information so we

can also say that cognitivism is focused in retention and recall through the use of quality

teaching practices.

Method related to Cognitivism

If we relate a method to this learning theory we can say that the method that fits with

this theory is the TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE which gives clear guidance to students

when teaching.

This method was designed to accelerate listening comprehension of a foreign

languageby having subjects give a physical response when they heard a foreign utterance.

(Asher, 1968)

As explained before we understand by cognitivism when the students internalize

knowledge, the information needs to be stored for later be recalled through a process in the

mind of the students. In this method it is easy to see how a student receive very

comprehensible input through the teacher to help students understand better, the teacher even

use modeling to make students to understand words and its pronunciation. In this method the

student is able to watch and listen for later repeat what they learned.

Constructivism

Constructivism is a theory that has been used for many years by teachers since it

brings some benefits for learners in their cognitive development. According to Husen &

Postlethwaite (1989), this theory is related to some other fields and in fact takes as its bases in

psychology and philosophy. This make sense since this related fields has to be with the

development of the cognitive processes of the students thanks to the teaching practices planed

with the objective to make our students be more critical and productive. According to these

two authors, this theory has two principles; the first principle has to be with the activeness of

the students and suggests that knowledge is not acquired just thanks to the input received by


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the teacher or textbooks, and the second principle says that students start to develop cognitive

skills and this skills later will be able to be adapted to any situation in the experimental field.

So now we understand constructivism as a learning theory that takes into consideration

not only learning content but also creating the opportunities for learners to be involved with

the content to be taught and this will be possible when our students consider experience as a

way of learning, in this case the knowledge will be more meaningful for them and obviously

the internalization of the content will be better and faster.

It is very interesting to see how the learning theories have appeared and have been

replacing others, this is a phenomenon that has allowed education improve the way teachers

teach and more importantly the way students learn, according to Cooper (1993), a paradigm

has been set that has shifted over the time from behaviorism going to cognitivism getting until

this point to constructivism.

Sin this theory appeared, has been clearly stated that has contributed to improve

students motivation and also to engage students to the subject. As stated before students have

the chance to be an active part of the class in other words learners have an active role in the

teaching-learning process. Considering all these aspects, learners will construct knowledge by

themselves thanks to their own experiences.

Method related to Constructivism

In my own experiences in teaching I can say that constructivism is one of the most

important theories that nowadays still work. In my case I often use constructivism with my

students when I make them work in groups. By doing this I take advantage of the cooperative

learning to make my students understand any topic. They share what they now and finally

they get to a conclusion that has come thanks to the cooperative learning.


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According to Taber (2011) in his paper, Constructivism as Educational Theory: Contingency

in Learning, and Optimally Guided Instruction, shows this graphic which clearly explains

how knowledge is built by having and interpreting new experiences.

Connectivism

As we have been seeing through this paper, learning theories have been appearing

through the pass of the time and have brought innovations to education. With no doubt,

technology nowadays has become an important part in education and for learners. According

to Siemens (2005), the inclusion of the new trends and innovations in technology to education

enables learners to make connections about content taking advantage of technology and their

different sources so in other words the learning activities are starting to move the learning

theories into a digital age.

According to Duke, Harper, & Johnston, (2013), connectivism is a way in which

teachers check on all the things that has been done in digital education and at the same time

the teachers reconsider, analyze, and debate in how all the parts exposed fits one to the other.

The implementation of connectivism also has encouraged teachers be continuously upgrading

their knowledge in order to know how new generations learn. Instruction and curriculum will

also be modified to have an education with higher standards.

With the new generation of students we as teachers are the responsible to provide our

students the tools that they need to succeed in school but taking into consideration the new


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trends and the era in which our students are living. At this point teachers must not be selfish

with knowledge because the way teachers learned a language maybe will not be useful or so

successful for students of the age. Now, we have the ease of the technology and if the students

know how to use it properly, will take advantage of the most useful tool to learn.

This theory is well named as the Learning Theory for the digital age because

nowadays we have so many web .2 pages aimed for education and even more for learning a

language. Maybe an specific and well detailed method that fits to this theory is not developed

yet, I consider one of the most interesting and productive for learners.

Conclusions

In conclusion, the learning theories has allowed knowledge get the students and be

internalized by them. With no doubt these learning theories has made of teachers the

facilitators to make knowledge reachable with new trends each time. At first behaviorism was

created with the concept and believe that knowledge was acquired through repetition which

was used for teacher for so many years. Then it came the cognitivism which suggests that

learning is about understanding the concept rather than just knowing it. This makes sense

since the education was becoming more important each time. As the education evolves, the

learning theories do too. Constructivism is a learning theory that puts the student as a center

of the process. This theory says that the students create their own knowledge thanks to their

experiences. And finally, connectivism, that is based in the use of technology to the

educational field. This theory is very productive for learners since internet offers many

sources where the student can get information from.


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Bibliography

Watson, J. (1924), Behaviorism; whit a new introduction by Gregory A. Kimble,pp. 11-12.

Larsen-Freeman, D., (2008), Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, OXFORD

Second Edition,p. 54.

Siemens, G., (2005), Connectivism:A learning theory for the Digital Age, retrieved from:

http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm,p. 3.

Ertmer, P., & Newby, T, (1993), Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing

Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective,Performance Improvement

Quarterly, 6(4), pp. 5072. doi: 10.1111/j.1937-8327.1993.tb00605.x

Asher, J., (1968). The Total Physical Response Method for Second Language Learning,

Psychology Department San Jose State College California, p.9

T. Husen & T. N. Postlethwaite, (1989) The International Encyclopedia of Education,

Oxford/New York: Pergamon Press, Supplement Vol.1. 162163.

Cooper, P.A. (1993). Paradigm shifts in designed instruction: From behaviorism to

cognitivism to constructivism.Educational Technology 33: 12-19.

Taber, K., (2011), Constructivism as Educational Theory: Contingency in Learning, and

Optimally Guided Instruction,NOVA SCIENCE PUBLISHERS, INC.ISBN:978-

61324-580-4, pp. 39-61.

Siemens, G., (2005), Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, retrieved from:

http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm

Duke, B., Harper, G., Johnston, M., (2013), Connectivism as a Learning Theory for the

Digital Age,Kaplan University, Ft. Lauderdable, FL,p. 5
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Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, & Connectivism and Their Relation With Language Teaching Methods